Reusable Refuse

Biomass power is a renewable resource in plentiful supply in southeast Minnesota. Low quality waste wood works well as a heating fuel for outdoor chunk wood furnaces. There are many sources of biomass power that can be used to produce heat and keep costs low, including:

• wood slabs from sawmills
• old pallets
• tree waste from logging operations
• city tree refuse

Now, waste wood is viewed as a problem entailing disposal costs. Making this wood a sustainable natural resources asset would serve multiple purposes.

Phil Vieth, a forest products development specialist from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, has led the effort to undertake a waste wood use feasibility study. “As a society,” he says, “we are underestimating the value that wood fuel provides to our economy. Not only does wood fuel provide a renewable resource for heating purposes, but it also can save individual households a significant amount of money on fuel bills.”

An effective technology to burn wood as fuel is an outdoor hot-water furnace. Installation costs are relatively high, but the payback is short-term given the availability and low cost of wood fuel. Presently in southeast Minnesota, 80,000-100,000 cords of wood are used annually for wood fuel. This works out as a $4-5 million savings compared to the equivalent cost for gas heating. More households using wood fuels would generate considerable aggregate savings and hold down the cost of living in rural areas during a period when natural and propane gas prices are skyrocketing.

Local Benefits

Local businesses, such as furnace distributors and wood harvesters, would benefit from an increased use in fuel woods and this would feed into a local economic multiplier effect. The highest ongoing cost-factor with the use of wood fuel for home heating is the transportation expense to move the wood to individual households. This activity would be performed by local entrepreneurs and further contribute to the region’s economic base.

“The benefits of using wood fuels with a proven technology are obvious.” Vieth observes. “What we need to do next is find out the incentives people need before switching over to wood.”

Through the University of Minnesota, research is focusing on the economic variables in burning wood fuel in hot water boiling systems. In consultation with the initiative’s advisory committee, a faculty member from the Department of Forest Resources in the College of Natural Resources and two graduate students are undertaking the study.

Using the research results, homeowners, contractors and heating/plumbing businesses can be educated about the economics of wood heating and the advantages of a biomass system over conventional fossil fuels technology. In the process, waste wood disposal issues can be addressed in environmentally sensitive ways.

A project supported by the Experiment in Rural Cooperation (651 345 4336).